Council officials at centre of corruption probe given perks including strippers & booze, police report reveals

THE report said there was “clearly evidence” to suggest a culture where contracts were handed out because of preference by officials on the now defunct property conservation department of Edinburgh Council.

COUNCIL officials were treated to strippers, sports events and booze by firms bidding for contracts, a police report has revealed.

The report, following a corruption
probe, says staff from Edinburgh Council’s now defunct property conservation department went on to allocate millions of pounds worth of work to unapproved contractors.

The department was axed last August after hundreds of residents complained of overcharging and poor workmanship on council-enforced repairs to their buildings.

No one has been charged but the damning police report reveals:

? PCD bosses handed out hundreds of contracts to favourite firms rather than pick from the preferred list.

? Staff borrowed contractors’ vehicles to do their own projects.

? Officials attended football matches and horse racing meetings and got free rounds of golf. There were also meals and bottles of drink and at least one visit to a strip club.

The report said there was “clearly evidence” to suggest a culture where contracts were handed out because of officials’ preference.

And though there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the council were open to being sued in civil courts, it added.

Parts
of the report, which was compiled by police detectives and released under freedom of information laws, have been kept private.

MSP
Sarah Boyack said the report laid bare the problems of mismanagement of
statutory notices, under which home owners are compelled to bear the cost of repairs to listed buildings.

She
added: “I’m still hearing of owners unhappy with how they have been treated. The issues identified in this report need to be acted upon in an open and transparent manner.”

A
council spokesman said: “We fully supported the police in their investigation, which ultimately did not find evidence of criminality.

“The
situation now is very different from then and we have taken strong action in response to the issues – by changing how we manage the service and through disciplinary action.”